Bette
Korber, postdoctoral research fellow John Mokili, and their Los Alamos
colleagues have worked to clarify the evolutionary tree of HIV subtypes and
strains. The evolutionary tree shows the genetic relationship among different
viral strains, maps the genetic distance between several of the different subtypes
of HIV (different colors), and indicates different strains within each subtype.
By comparing the genomes (genetic information) of these viruses, Korber and
others have been able to reconstruct a genome that would represent a consensus
copy (arrow) of this genetic information. This genetic information can then
be used to synthesize proteins that can, in turn, become the components of
an AIDS vaccine. While at the Lab, Mokili has developed an HIV vaccine database,
and he serves as advisor to vaccine developers in his native Democratic Republic
of the Congo.